Famous Chile TV Host Feared Dead In Plane Crash

Chilean entertainer Felipe Camiroaga feared dead in the crash

A Chilean air force plane with 21 people aboard, including a popular local television host, crashed yesterday Friday Sept 2 near the Juan Fernandez islands in the Pacific Ocean, authorities said.

The CASA 212 military plane tried twice to land at the airport on the remote Chilean island but strong wind gusts buffeted the aircraft and it later was lost from sight, said Felipe Paredes, a local council member who was in the airport's control tower at the time.


Rescuers in boats were searching for the plane and survivors, but the mayor of Juan Fernandez, Leopoldo Gonzalez, said some luggage had been found in the water and it was clear the plane crashed.
"We assume that there was an accident and that there are no survivors," Gonzalez said.
Rescue teams later found an intact door and several knapsacks in the water about 2,000 meters (yards) from the island's airport, authorities said.

Authorities said popular Chilean television personality Felipe Camiroaga was flying to the island to do a program on the reconstruction of Juan Fernandez island following the magnitude-8.8 earthquake and tsunami that wiped out its main town on Feb. 27, 2010.
The 44-year-old TV presenter was one of five people from Television Nacional's program "Good Morning Everyone" who were traveling to the island.

Besides hosting the morning program, Camiroaga also hosted the popular program "Nocturnal Animal" and co-hosted the Vina del Mar music festival in 2009 and 2010.

"We are extremely upset," said TVN executive director Mauro Valdes.
Also on board was businessman Felipe Cubillos, a brother-in-law of the defense minister who had been working on post-earthquake reconstruction.

Source: Huffingtonpost